


When I Come Into Your Kingdom

by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)



Series: The Ballad of a Dove [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Medical Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-09
Updated: 2016-07-09
Packaged: 2018-07-22 11:25:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7435697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiasobi_writes/pseuds/hollyandvice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"Easy, K'thall," Zarkon says lazily. "The boy is our honored guest. After all. He's come to ask us a favor."</i>
</p><p>Lance makes it to the Galra Empire after losing his leg.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When I Come Into Your Kingdom

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to [Matt](http://corgiss.tumblr.com/) for the drive-by beta, all remaining mistakes are my own. [Reblog from here!](http://hollyandvice.tumblr.com/post/147122737203/fic-when-i-come-into-your-kingdom) Fic and series titles from [If I Die Young by The Band Perry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NJqUN9TClM)

Coming to consciousness in full restraints is Lance's first sign that something's wrong. Realizing he's in a hell of a lot of pain is the second sign. Being restrained is bad enough, but the pain just makes everything that much more intense and terrifying. It isn't until he opens his eyes and sees the third sign--the massive amount of Galra tech surrounding him--that he starts to be able to sift through what his memories are telling him. An explosion. He'd been hurt. And then…. He takes a sharp breath, looking down at where his leg used to be and oh. _Oh_. So it hadn't been a dream, then.

He closes his eyes, swallows, and tries to reach back for that same sense of calm that he'd been able to maintain while surrounded by his team. It isn't forthcoming. So instead he thinks of why he did this. He thinks of his mother and sisters and his need to somehow make his way back to them. The family he misses, and who he knows miss him. He thinks of the team that he's fought with for so long, and who have become his second family. The family he needs, and who he knows need him. He thinks of Keith, his friend for three years and lover for one. The family he loves, and who he knows loves him.

His throat goes tight as he cycles through his reasons, but at the same time he feels stronger for it. As long as he knows why he did this, he'll be able to keep fighting. He just has to remember why he did this.

\----

When they throw him down at Zarkon's feet, Lance wastes no time in looking up and meeting the Galra's eyes dead on.

Zarkon smirks. At least, Lance thinks it's a smirk. He's not actually completely sure, especially through the sedative they dosed him with on the ride over. "Welcome, Blue Paladin of Voltron."

Lance really wishes he could get to his feet right about now, but he manages to push himself up onto his one remaining knee and level a stare at Zarkon. "Zarkon."

The guard standing behind Lance jabs him in the back with the butt of his weapon, forcing Lance to catch himself on his cuffed hands. "You will refer to His Lordship Emperor Zarkon by his rightful title," the guard snarls, jabbing the butt of his weapon right between Lance's shoulder blades when he tries to straighten up again.

Lance squeezes his eyes shut. He knew this wasn't going to be easy, but he hadn't really thought about how hard it was going to be.

"Easy, K'thall," Zarkon says lazily. "The boy is our honored guest."

"Sire?"

"Isn't that right, Lance?" Lance looks up, and this time he's certain Zarkon is smirking at him. "After all. He's come to ask us a favor."

The bottom drops out of Lance's stomach. _He knows._

"I have ears everywhere, boy. Word of your little plan reached me before you had even finished boarding the escape cruiser you were so kindly allowed to use to make it out this far. The question," Zarkon says, leaning forward to brace his elbows on his knees and his chin on his linked fingers, "is how much you are willing to give to get your leg back."

Lance swallows. "A good deal more than I would have thought one cycle ago."

The smirk widens. "Is that so. Then let us see how deep that willingness runs. Will you consent to let my Druids experiment on you?"

Lance doesn't hesitate to answer. Shiro had all but told him to expect it. "Yes."

"Will you accept your rightful punishment as an enemy of the Empire?"

Lance squeezes his eyes shut. _My friends will come for me._ "Yes."

"Will you tell me where the Princess and your friends hide out in the depths of my empire, making allies that rise against my troops?"

That stops Lance's heart cold, and for a second he can't breathe. Then he looks Zarkon straight in the eye and glares. "No." Nothing is worth selling out his friends.

Zarkon nods. "I assumed as much. Very well, then," he says, and Lance has a split second to fear the worst before he continues. "I shall grant you your leg."

"What?" Lance asks at the same time the guard behind him asks the same.

"In return," Zarkon says idly, "I shall expect you to be fully compliant with the Druids' demands, and then to take your punishment without complaint, for as long as I see fit."

Lance swallows, waiting for what else is to come.

"That is all," Zarkon says, gesturing to the guard, "take him to the Druids."

"Wait!" Lance wishes he could take the word back as soon as he's said it.

"Yes?" Zarkon asks, looking intrigued.

"You're not… you're not going to make me tell you about my friends?"

"No," Zarkon says idly, already sounding bored again.

Lance swallows, wishing he didn't have to know, but needing to, so badly. "Why not?"

"Because that would take all the fun out of it."

Lance's stomach goes tight with fear. "Take the fun out of what, exactly?"

Zarkon's face splits into the same smirk as before. "The torture, of course. So much more fun to rip the secrets from your bleeding and broken lips than to be given them willingly."

The guards drag Lance out of the throne room, and he can't help looking over his shoulder at Zarkon in his throne and Haggar where she stands at his side. There's something damning about the conspiratorial looks they're sharing, and Lance turns away so fast that his head spins. He knows he should be more concerned about the casual threats Zarkon had levelled at him and his team, but the truth is that there's really nothing he can do right now.

The guards drop him off with the Druids, who immediately go to work on his leg. They don't bother to heal the burns, focusing instead on the task at hand, and Lance doesn't have the courage or the energy to press for the healing he so desperately wants. He just closes his eyes and drifts in and out of the pain, wondering idly if it's ever going to end.

\----

He's not sure what exactly it is that tips the Druids in favor of gagging him. It might have been his attempts at mimicking his mother's lullabies, sung to soothe him when the pain was manageable enough to attempt sleep. It might have been his sassy comments when the pain was edging into too much but not quite there, spoken to keep him as levelheaded as he can be when being poked and prodded and torn apart by Druids. It might have been the screams, let loose when the pain really was too much and all he had left was the primal response of just letting everything go. The screaming always leaves his vocal cords rubbed raw, but it gives him something else to focus on when the pain is at its worst.

But whatever it is that made them decide to gag him, it doesn't matter once the gag is in place. Lance isn't used to being forced into silence, but he supposes that by walking with monsters he's left himself open to things he never would have expected otherwise. At least the pain might finally end when his leg is attached and his burns have fully healed. If he has to be silent for the pain to end, he'll take it.

The realization that the pain won't end until his friends come and free him strikes him shortly after they finally gift him with his new leg. Because less than a cycle later, they're loading him into another cruiser and taking him somewhere else, somewhere far away, and it isn't until they unload him that he realizes why they were taking him away. Because it isn't Galra soldiers that are there to meet him.

It's a whole line of Druids.

Lance swallows. The words he'd spoken on the day he'd first been taken into Galra custody ring in his ears, and he knows what this is. This is the Druid experimentation he'd consented to. The fact that they've taken him away from the main fleet means they likely also know that the other paladins intend to come for him, and that the Galra have decided to make any manner of rescue difficult for his friends. Maybe even impossible.

Lance forces himself to stand up straighter, putting as much metaphorical iron in his spine as he can. Because he has to survive this. For himself, for his friends, for his family. For Keith. He has to survive this and make it back to the people he loves.

He holds himself tall and his spine straight and, with every ounce of poise he can muster, walks into a den of lions much crueler and more terrible than the ones he left behind.

**Author's Note:**

> [Come hang with me on tumblr!!](http://hollyandvice.tumblr.com/)


End file.
